Saturday, July 12, 2014

Communication is Critical, Heather White Tells Summit Campers

Heather White is the Executive Director of Environmental Working Group (EWG), and she made time to stop by Redesigning the Future to speak with everyone about the importance of communication.

We communicate constantly, but we don't always do it well. White provided ways to think about the world, organize those thoughts, and get powerful messages out.

White Reaches Out to High School Students Who Will be Our Future Leaders

The communication skills program began with a game to get students up and moving and involved in the process of thinking about how we send and receive messages.

Students Quickly Came Up with Ideas and Began to Fill the Walls with Words

Campers wrote down thoughts on sticky notes and put them on the wall boards. Then White had them take the ideas from across the room and begin to organize those words and thoughts so that they had more than just a jumble of random sticky note ideas.

Organizational Work Took More Time and Effort - But Summit Members Collaborated to Complete the Second Task

We don't think about communication a lot. We just do it. But, if we want results, we need to be more focused on what we say and do.

White helped summit members look beyond the obvious and make new connections about their messages and how they impact the world.